A field emission display (FED) has a cathode with many conical electron emitters arranged in a row-column selectable array, and an anode with phosphor-coated pixels. When selected for actuation, the emitters bombard the pixels with electrons to produce light, thus creating an image for a viewer. The brightness of that image depends on the level of current between the cathode and the anode; and the level of current depends on the electric field between the cathode and the anode in a direction normal to the anode. The electric field due to the potential of the anode at each emitter tip is higher for tips of emitters in the center of the array, lower for tips of emitters at the edge of the array, and lower still for tips of emitters at the corners of the array. These center-edge-corner variations in the electric field across the anode thus cause variations in the brightness from the center to the edges to the corners of the displayed image.